Forgotten Again, In The USA, This Time

Answering to this blog post I wrote the following: "When you laud Hugo Pratt’s characterization you are really lauding his master, Héctor Germán Oesterheld." My comment is awaiting moderation, or so it seems... My guess is that I can wait ad Calendas Grecas.

Forgotten Yet Again?

People are excited about the new set of comics related exhibitions at the Beaubourg in Paris. I haven't been there, so I can't say anything about it, but there's a blatant flaw I want to address. To quote the site of the Centre Pompidou:

Corto Maltese une vie romanesque [...] Une exposition qui met en évidence les sources littéraires d’Hugo Pratt : Hermann Melville, Joseph Conrad, Jack London…

I don't know if I need to translate the phrase or not, but, since I'm writing in English: "Corto Maltese an adventurous life [...] An exhibition that underlines the literary sources of Hugo Pratt: Hermann Melville, Joseph Conrad, Jack London…" 

Hugo Pratt, himself, also cited Zane Grey, but he's too lowbrow, I guess...

But I digress... This is all fine and dandy to continue the myth of the great man. The great European artist who brought true literature to the lowly comic...

Being serious: the real literary source of Hugo Pratt was Héctor Germán Oesterheld and not only these French, I guess, curators forgot him, they forgot all the rich Argentinian comics tradition. The Venice Biennale invited a Brazilian curator this year. Maybe the comics habitus needs a similar revolution.  Unfortunately comics are always apart from what's going on in the rest of the world...